COME YE OUT

John 12:26  "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

Can you remember what you were doing, who your friends were, the places you went when the Lord called you, put His touch on you and told you to come to Him?  I remember, and it is not a place I care to return to.  I can remember all the friends I had at the time, when they were told that I no longer cared to go to the places I had been frequenting or do the same things, most of them just seemed to disappear.  Only a couple remained friends but as we no longer had anything in common, did not come around much.  I can remember it was lonely for a while as the Lord dealt with me one on one.  But then He began to lead me to services at different churches until He found the place He wanted me to fit.

The Lord has a place for each of us in His church.  And I am not speaking of the building, I am speaking of the group of people that make up the church.  Father, I can see this is not going where I thought.  Once again, I yield to Your will, Lord, as You know better than I what is needed.  I had thought this was about being with people of your old man, and needing to come out of that group into one of the Lord's leading, His children, but that is not what the Father wants me to talk about. Perhaps some other time.

As the Lord had me saying, He has a place for each of us in His body, in the church of His children.  Sometimes we will visit a church and thiink that is just the place, everyone is so nice and friendly, the programs are just what you enjoy, and you join that church only to not feel quite right there.  It will seem like before, you will love going, but there will be something missing.  I know that feeling.  I went to a church for years only to find that no matter how much I loved the pastor, loved the people of the church, was so loved in return, there was something missing, a lack in myself when I would leave service, not quite knowing what, just knowing something was missing.

Everyone knows the Lord moved me two hundred and fifty miles away.  Away from family, away from friends, away from my office where all my peers and all my customers cared so much about me.  Moved me to a place where I only had a couple of friends.  Now these are very close friends, thank You Lord, for this, friends that love me deeply, like sisters, so I am not alone.  But new office where no one knows me, fish in a new pond, customers having to learn about me as I learn about them.  And church, well my Lord brings me to a church where I basically know no one, although He had me meet a few people before hand.  But basically, He took me to a church, sat me on the second row and told me on two different occasions that I was home.  And now, I am home there.  Don't know many people, seems strange not to know the ins and outs of the church like I was use to, but this is God's will for me.  But you know what, I leave after service, and there is nothing missing.  Nothing lacks in my soul when I drive home from services.  I drive 30 miles to church one way and on the way home, the smile, the contentment and joy never leave my face.  I go meet my friends for lunch and they don't need to ask how services were, they can see it on my face. 

The spirit of the Lord that flowed in the services is still glowing all over me.  The deep touch that was realized during services still is radiating my soul, causing my spirit to rejoice, over and over again.  It should never be about the people at a church, it should never be about the acceptance of the people, the programs, the location; it should always be about God.  It should always be about the manner in which the Lord is welcomed into the services, sought after and the importance put on His presence.  If you find a church, like I have, where the presence, the embodying presence of the Holy Spirit being given the freedom to turn the service into whatever He wants, being glorified and worshiped by everyone;  and if you leave that service with a deep satisfaction knowing that you were joined together with the Lord in that service, then there won't any question of what and where.

The Lord did not move me right away after He told me I was to be at this church. He sent me back to my home church and had me share the worship teachings He had given me.  It was not easy and I can not say it was altogether successful, but with the Lord's leading, I did this for nine months, thinking it would be a few more months that I would be there, a year perhaps, but then the Lord spoke to me. "Come ye out of there, it is time."  And He moved me. 

Where the Lord is, is where I want to be.  I cannot be where He is not welcome to flow as long as He wants, or to change things about if it pleases Him.  I can only be where the welcoming of the Holy Spirit is the most important objective in the service.  Where calling down the Spirit of the Lord is the desire of the people there, from the pastor to the worship team to the congregation.  It is truly the only thing that matters, the Presence of God, our precious Lord.  If the Presence of God is there, you don't need a lot of words, the Lord can move, He will heal, He will satisfy all with just His Presence.

This 31st day of August, 2011, my Lord, You have blessed me greatly.  You have blessed me with Your Presence, Your drawing me unto You.  I have followed You, I have yielded unto You alone and I delight in each day with You. I love and adore You, my Lord, and I know You love me, I know I am Your beloved child.

MY SPRING TIME HAS COME

Ecclesiastes 3:1  "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven;"

Winter is past....the cold...the drab gloom of my life, the distance of self, it all has been lifted away.  The weight of the past, the sadness, the emptiness has disappeared.  Just taken away, like it was never there, but I know it was as there are still faint scars of where the pain imbedded itself into me.  But my Lord is so good, His promises are true, and He has never forsaken me.  Winter had to have its season, so I could rejoice in the days that were coming.

Spring time is here.  The new life, the refreshing, the restoration has begun my new season that the Lord has been preparing for me.  That time is now, and the Lord has begun to open the windows of my heart, pull back the shutters of my soul and let the sunshine in.  The radiance of His own Son is shining in my soul, penetrating my heart and causing my spirit to cry out in jubilation to my God, cry songs of praise and extreme worship, beautiful heartfelt new songs of worship to glorify His Name alone.

The new fresh growth of life within me has begun.  The birth of a new season of my life is transforming what was, into what His Will is to be in me.  New songs springing forth from my lips in honor and praise to my Lord, new understanding coming to me as I read His Holy Word, as my God reveals more and more of Himself, as I spend time in His presence, He is showing me more of His Glory, more of His desire, more of His love for me.  Nothing seems to be able to disturb that time now, so precious is that time when I am in the presence of my Lord.  He has taught me how to shut out the world and just step back into Him, into His presence whenever He calls me.  As I have yielded all to Him, you see, He is the only One that matters to me, everything here on earth is nothing compared to my King, my Lord and God.  Nothing compares to Him.  So, I am ready whenever He calls, I am waiting for His voice to call me, to spend time with Him, I am waiting and go right away.  I do not want to ever keep my Lord waiting. My precious Lord has spent enough time waiting on me; I am determined to get it right this time.  I will be ready anytime He calls.

My spring time has come.  It has been a long time, it seems, in coming, but I can see the Lord's plan for the long spell of winter.  He was busy during that cold season, showing me how I could trust His Word, sowing fresh seed into me, planting me into His plans, healing the wounds of the past so there would be nothing festering in me, no bitterness, no envy, no strife.  Just love, peace and joy, the beautiful seeds He was cultivating in me.  And He, my beautiful Lord, was teaching me the value of what I had in Him, teaching me that all the earthly things I thought were so important were just stuff, and yes, it is all stuff.  Of no real value to a lover of the Lord.  And now, He has found me ready to come out of that time and approach the new season with such joy and peace.  I have found great strength that the Lord has given me, great courage to face all my tomorrows as I know He is with me, and He is going no where from me.

This 30th day of August, 2011, almost the beginning of earthly fall season, but spiritually, for me, it is spring.  New growth in my God, new beginnings for me through the plans that the Lord has made for me, new mercies to help me through each day, and love, love of my Lord, and that presence, His very presence with me that is worth more than all the silver and gold in the world; nothing can take the place of the presence of my Lord.  I love You, my God.

SPEAK, LORD, SPEAK TO ME

Exodus 20:8 "They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. Bud do not have the Lord speak to us or we will die."

Afraid, so afraid, the children of Israel were, afraid of God speaking to them directly, afraid they would die.  Only Moses got to hear from God, the others were content to hear second hand from the Lord.  It was different then, and then, we must remember, they were not exactly looking to commune with the Lord, to offer praises to Him.  They were so blessed by the Lord, but complained about so much.  Looking past the fact that He fed them from heaven, satisfied their thirst, freed them from bondage, they were still disgruntled.  Forty years they wondered, what a time-out.  And yet, the Lord loved them so much, He forgave and forgave.  He would put them away from Himself only to have His heart yield once more towards them and draw them back to Himself, save them from themselves time after time and pour His blessings on them.  And still, they would reject Him.  They never voiced their desire to hear from Him; fear is a terrible thing.

His final blessing would come, His love so great, so sweet, He sent His Son to earth to draw His people back to Him, to be sacrificed for their sins, for our sins, past, present, and future sins all placed on the love and grace of His Son.  When our Savior died, descended into hell and rose victoriously from the grave, that dark hole that could not keep Him, could not hold the Victorious Lord, the King of Kings, He rose and through His sacrifice gave us gifts beyond measure.  Our salvation, freedom from sin, the precious Holy Spirit to dwell within us, His own Spirit to be with us, our Comforter, our Guide, our dearest Friend.  But He also made the way for us to go past that veil, now torn into, past the veil into the Holiest of Holies and into the presence of our Father.  To hear from Him, to have His thoughts and desires penetrate our very spirits, we now have access to the God of all creation, the Father of us all, dearest Pappa.  How my Pappa loves to have me come to spend time with Him.  I make time to spend with Him. I only wish that I could be with Him at all times.  I have found ways to draw away, even in the office, just to draw away in my spirit with Him, to rest in Him, to feel His sweet peace flood over my being.  I could not have stood it back in those days; I am certain I would have braved everything to approach my God and pleaded for an audience with Him, to hear Him speak to me.  My desire to be with Him would have driven all fear away.  Yes, I know things were different then, but I truly feel that when God sees hearts desiring Him so much, it changes things, it touches His heart deeply.

My God, you are so worthy of all my praise.  I thank my Savior, my beautiful Jesus, for making it possible to me to have such a special, intimate, relationship with You.  No fear in drawing near to You, my God, as I can feel the love You have for me, I can feel the sweet drawing on me, Your wooing me to come and be with You.  I know You love my worship, I know it pleases You when I sing to You, when I tell others of my love for You.  I live to please You, Pappa.  It is my desire to spend my time with You, to sing the songs of my heart to You, to worship You from my soul, my spirit ringing out Your praises.

Speak, Lord, speak to me this night, speak to me in the morning, I long for Your words of love and encouragement.  You tell me of Your plans, a little at a time, drawing me along each day, deeper and deeper into the life You have for me, the beautiful life you have for me in You.  This 29th day of August, 2011, I am desiring all that You have for me, Lord God; speak to me of Your love,  my Lord, I am listening for Your voice alone.

THE DEEPER THE PIT, THE HIGHER THE PRAISE

Psalm 40:2-3  "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord."

Heavenly Father, I want to thank You with all my heart, again, tonight, for Your goodness to me, Your faithfulness and Your mighty love for me.  When I think of where I was just a few years ago, yes, it did not look like I was in a pit, but spiritually I was drowning in the mire.  To look at me, all looked right, but You knew my heart, my soul, You could see the deep longing in myself to become the person You made me to be, not just someone playing the part. I wanted to be that person, I wanted You to take complete control of my life, pull me out of the depths of despair I could feel strangling me and lift me to Yourself, cleanse the dirtiness from me and make me into the child You knew I was meant to be.  And You did, You lifted me out of the shame I carried inside, and into the Light of my Savior.  The Holy Spirit began to operate in me, showing me what was needed for me to be who I was in You, and leading me deeper and deeper into the things You had for me, lifting me higher and higher into Your presence.

I began to worship You my Lord with all my heart, all my being.  I began to not fear what people would think, what they would say, as I just began to bubble over with Your goodness, Your love and I began to praise You day and night.  You are my life, I want everyone to know it and I will not ever just sing songs, I will be worshiping You with all that is within me, for all my days, as long as You give me breathe, and then I will worship at Your feet in Your throne room.

Being on a Praise and Worship team for so many years, yes, you really can do this, even when you are not truly praising and worshiping; you are just singing songs.  Even when your heart is so low and saddened by life's choices, life's demands and hurts and sorrow, you can stand up in front of people and lead.  Shameful isn't it?  But my Lord is so good, He is a restorer of life, especially when you have such a repentive heart, giving it all to Him, He removes the shame and replaces it with such a Glow of Glory through His righteousness.  He will cause Himself to shine all over you.  But, back to what I wanted to tell you, standing in front, on the team, you see what is on the faces of the people in the congregation.  You can see those who come in late, miss half or all of the worship service, just there as it is what they do on Sunday mornings.  And then there are those, like myself, who are there for one reason, and one reason only; to WORSHIP THE LORD.  That is their one intention, to give to back to the Lord, their heartfelt worship, their praise for His sweet annointing on their lives, His precious Son's atoning salvation, the lifting from the pit, the saving of their very lives.  And the deeper the pit they were in, you can tell, the higher the praise, the more intense the worship is, flowing wave after wave of pure love offerings up to their Father, their Redeemer, their Savior; imploring the Holy Spirit to come, pour out on them as they want only His presence, the presence of Almighty God.  I truly loved seeing this, as I knew my heart of pure worship was blending with theirs as the sound of worship flowed upwards to the Father's ear, letting Him hear the song of His redeemed, of those He has such a special bond with.  You know the Father loves all His children, but I truly feel, that when those prodigals, like myself, return to Him and let Him know day after day, moment by moment, how much we love Him, how much we adore Him and how we want only to worship Him, glorifying His Holy Name, well, I think He has a special place in His heart for us, a deep affection that only grows stronger each day as we give all we have to worshiping Him, living for Him alone.

The deeper the pit, the more shame we carried, that burden that was lifted by our Lord when He redeemed us, cleansed us with His precious blood, the peace and joy He put in us replacing those thoughts of rejection and self hatred, the love He pours into us, new mercies each day, His presence in our lives; yes, the higher the praise, the sweeter the worship to Him, the new songs coming from our spirits, words of adoration and thanksgiving; all for Him, our Beloved Lord.  Never turning back, no, Lord, I am never turning back, I cannot bear to be without You, without Your presence in my life. I love You so much.

This 28th day of August, 2011, I find myself seeking You, my Lord, seeking a deeper and even more intimate relationship with the God of my salvation, my beautiful Lord.  Thanking You, my Lord, for Your love, for lifting me up to You.  I will give You my highest praise, my songs of worship each day, each night, as I feel Your love and grace pour over me anew, each day, as I walk with You.

ROLLER COASTER RIDE

"John 1:23  "John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert. Make straight the way for the Lord."

How's your life been.  I don't want to make you think that mine has been one smooth, easy ride for it has not.  And I know neither has yours.  But that is the way my life was, should be the way your's was, not now.  Not now that we know who we are in the Lord, now that we realize how beautiful life can be as we give ourselves over to the Lord, for His instruction through the Holy Spirit, giving the Holy Spirit free reign to test us, purify us and keep us on the right path, the straight path.

I am afraid I have seen so many tetter back and forth, go up and down in their faith, falling away time after time.  I can say this as I was also guilty of this.  I can also say, never again.  I will never do this again to myself, never again do this to my Lord, my beautiful Savior.  When things happen, why is it that people tend to go back to their self destructive habits instead of calling on the Father they know loves them.  They want to regress back to who they think they were before they began walking with the Lord.  As a friend, a wonderful psalmist of the Lord, has said, Be Who You Are.  A sinner is not who you are, a failure is not who you are, unrighteous is not who you are.  You Are a child of the Most High God, you are the beloved of Jesus, our Redeemer, and you are the close friend of the Holy Spirit.  You are a winner, not a failure, you are loved, not hated, you have potential, you are beautiful, you are who God made you to be, not who the world thinks you are, or who you fall into the role of.  Be who God made you to be.  Stop going back to the life that was buried when you accepted the Lord as your Savior, stop thinking you are not good enough.  Our Lord makes no mistakes.  He placed you on the path that is right for you, you need to stay on that path.  You need to stay off that roller coaster that use to be your life and stay on the sure-footed, rock-solid, well-lit path the Lord has made for you.

Your heart should stay in worship and praise of the Lord at all times.  You should be giving away His love, His mercy, His grace to all.  You will not run out, as the Lord refills us on a daily basis.  We were made to give away all that He gives us so He can keep giving to us.  If you hoard all He gives you, you will never get any more.  Show His love and grace, His forgiveness and mercy to all you know, all you will meet.  Freely given, give it away as freely.

Your spirit man should be focused on seeking the Lord, seeking after His instruction, learning the things that are so important for us to know. The Word of God is your Instruction Manual, the only one you will ever need.  No where in that book does it give license to go up and down in your relationship with the Lord.  It gives hope, it gives exciting truth of our Lord who left Glory to come to earth as a man to walk as we do, to live as we do, and to know heartache, pain and suffering as we have.  But you will never hear of our Lord Jesus' life as a up and down roller coaster ride.  He was steadfast, never wavering in His love for His Father, never failing to do exactly what the Father gave Him to do, never complained, never fell into sin because His life was not perfect.  When He felt tired, discouraged, weak, He drew upon the strength of His Father, He showed patience, love and mercy to all.  He was Love.  He was Peace.  He was Mercy.  He was the example for us to follow.

One day Jesus will return.  What will He find when He does.  Will He find your life looking like an amusement park, ups and downs and you not know where you belong, who you belong to, who you are?  Or will He find that you are walking the path set for you by the Father, will He find you telling others about the wonderful love and forgiveness waiting for them, will He find you preparing the way for Him to come claim His bride?  Will He find you desiring Him, worshiping and adoring Him alone. 

The time is coming.  Make the choice now, walk in His Light, walk the straight path, make ready the way for the Lord.  He so desires that you come to Him, that you stay on the path set for you.  No more up and down in your relationship with Him, but steadfast and sure of who you are in Him.

Father, I love You so. I thank You for putting me on the path of life, on the path of righteousness that You set for me.  I thank You for pulling me off the roller coaster ride I was on and planting me on Solid Ground, Your Ground.  My heart is Yours, Lord, always am I seeking after You and Your righteousness.  You are my life, my solid life.

BRIDAL GOWN ALTERATIONS

Revelation 21:9  "One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

Next door to my office there is an alterations shop. In the window is one of the most beautiful, white, wedding gowns I have ever seen.  It looks about something you would have seen a bride in the 1940s wear, long sleeves to small points over the hand, the neck high with seed pearls adorning it, seed pearls all over the bodice and down the sleeves, scattered on the semi full skirt, flowing down to the floor. It is just beautiful.  As I left work this evening I glanced over at the gown and the Holy Spirit quickened to me, "I do not alter the bridal gown for the bride, I alter the bride for the gown".  WOW!  What a revelation to me.

The bride is altered for the gown, the gown that will be worn on her wedding day to the Bridegroom.  There is no making the gown fit the bride, the bride must fit the gown. The gown is perfect and pure, it is a size that does not fit all, but all can fit the gown if they will allow themselves to be altered.  The gown was selected at the beginning of creation and has been carefully taken care of by the Lord since that first breath of the bride.  The Lord knew exactly what He wanted His bride to wear, and the gown was created with all thought and love going into it.  The Lord also realized that no one would be able to wear the gown without their being altered, and He assigned that job to His Holy Spirit.  Then He gave the Holy Spirit to each of us, each of us that surrendered our life to Him, died to the old man and was born again in the spirit, into His likeness.  So we would never be alone without our Lord, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us, to lead and guide us, to comfort us, to be everything we would need in our preparation to become the bride of the precious Lamb of God.

I know the Holy Spirit had work to do on me to alter me for the dress.  In my spirit I can see myself being measured by the Holy Spirit.  "Mmmm, need a little lengthening on patience, attitude needs some adjustment, the space where love and mercy flows out must be enlarged, love for the Lord, worship and honor, no, that is just about right, but we will put some stretch material here so she can be stretched as the Lord desires to make her into His vessel, into His encourager.  A little shaving off of self-centeredness, oh, my, we need to remove this pride all together.  Now, that might just about do it." 

Can you picture in your spirit being fitted for the bridal gown, the one worn by the redeemed bride of the Lamb.  Perfection once completed, as the bride will have been washed until spotless by the blood of the Lamb, wearing that prestine white gown bedecked with jewels of every kind, jewels never seen before on earth, having been reserved for this gown, for this once in a lifetime occasion, how beautiful the bride will be for her Bridegroom.

We must allow the Holy Spirit to alter us, make us fit and ready to adorn this beautiful gown.  It has been waiting for us, the bride of Christ, waiting for so long, and the time is short now.  The proposal has been made, the Bridegroom has presented Himself to the bride-to-be and shown her all His love, all the honor and glory He wants to bestow on her, and He has gone to prepare a home for her.  It won't be long now until the Father tells Him that the home is ready, that it is ready for He and the bride to dwell in, and the Father will tell the Son to go get His bride.  I can sense the excitement building in Heaven now as the Lord finishes the last touches on the home He has sacrificed so much to make for His bride, and I know the excitement in my heart as I am being prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive my Groom.  Are you excited, are you ready?  Have you given all your heart to your Bridegroom, He will not accept any thing less that a heart that is completely and totally given to Him alone; eyes for only Him, love that goes only to Him, no one else on earth coming before Him. 

So, ask your heart, are you ready?  Have you been for your final fitting for the gown?  If not, don't delay, the alterations shop will not be open for ever and there is a deadline for the perfect bride that fits the gown.  We fit the gown, remember, we are altered to fit the gown.

My precious Bridegroom, perhaps a few more alterations, the Holy Spirit is working so with me to make me what You desire me to be, what You are longing for in a bride.  I so want to be perfect for the gown, to be beautiful and pure before You on our special day.  This 26th day of August, 2011, I am awaiting my final fitting, and I am waiting, so in love with You, my Lord, so adoring You, waiting to become Your Bride.

HE NEVER LEAVES ME

John 8:29  "The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."

Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees here in John about the validity of His testimony.  There never seemed to be a time that someone wasn't trying to get Jesus to say something they could prove was a lie.  But it never happened; no matter what they asked Him, they could never prove anything.  Jesus never spoke anything but the truth, and the truth was that "the One who sent Him, never left Him alone."  Jesus always pleased the Father.

My Lord, Jesus, You gave us the same rights to the Father as You were given.  When You went to the cross, when You died for our sins, You opened the door for us to be grafted into the family of God.  We became His sons and daughters with the same rights, the same blessings as were given You.  You shared Your inheritance with us.  Then You gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, to guide and instruct us, to show us immediately when we sinned, so it would not stay on us, so we could repent immediately and ask forgiveness of the Lord and be drawn back into fellowship with our God.  The Holy Spirit shows us what pleases the Lord, He draws us into deep, heartfelt worship for the Lord, knowing that it pleases Him, knowing that the Lord will draw us into His presence and spend time with us, loving on us as we worship Him and adore Him.

And He never leaves us.  Just as our Father never left Jesus, He never leaves us.  We were given an open door to the Father's heart, right into His throne room, washed clean of all sin by the precious blood of our Savior, made righteous in Him alone, not in ourselves, as we could never be, but in Him, our Lord Jesus Christ.  No matter what we go through, even in our darkest hour, our Father is there.  There is nothing that says we may not go through dark trials, some even drift away for awhile, caught up in circumstances too hard to deal with, perhaps, and fall away.  But the Father never leaves, He just loves you and waits for you to feel His presence, sense that love and mercy flowing all around you.  His sweet grace touching your heart, awaking that knowledge you have inside, that He loves you and is waiting for you to come home to Him.  Bringing into your remembrance that a repentive heart is always restored to the Lord, always forgiven.  Our Father loves us so much, never think for a  minute you have done something that is unforgivable.  The only thing unforgivable would be not asking.  If you don't ask, you will never know that forgiveness.  It's available but you must seek it, you must seek the Lord for yourself.  No one can do this, it is a step you must take on you own.  Someone else can pray for you, can ask the Lord to forgive you, but until you  make that step towards Him, it is not a far journey as He is right there with you; but make that step and ask the Father to forgive you.  He will see your heart and know you want to come home to Him.  He will make it so easy for you, you will wonder why you waited so long; what you were afraid of. 

Our God is so gentle and loving, so kind and forgiving.  He wants His children with Him always.  He loves to spend time with us, loves to bless us.  What a priviledge to be a child of God, to dwell in His presence, in His heart.

My Father, I sense You have hearts that needed this message tonight as it went far from what I was thinking, but I know it went exactly where You wanted it to go.  I adore You, my Lord.  My days would be meaningless without You, my heart cold and bare without Your love, Your joy, and my spirit, dead, without Your Holy Spirit bringing life to me from You.  This 25th day of August, I know I have pleased You my Father, and it is what I always want to do, just to please You.  Thank You, Lord, for never leaving me, for always being with me.

ENCOMPASSING THE BRIDE

John 3:29a  "The bride belongs to the Bridegroom".

The Father gave the Son, the Son gave the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit draws us to the Father and the Son, They form a complete encirclement around the "bride".  The bride is completely encompassed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  When the bride gives herself totally to the care of the Lord, taking no thought of herself, but worshiping and praising the Lord, giving herself to pleasing Him alone, then she has no worries, as everything concerning her is taken by the Lord.  Her worries, her days and nights, her tomorrows, all taken and set in motion by the Father.  The Son, our Lord Jesus, enfolds her into His arms caring gently for her as she goes through each day.  The Holy Spirit guides, teaches and softly woos her to the Lord, giving her instruction to worship, how to worship and coaxes new songs from her heart for the Lord.  The Holy Spirit draws her into worship and then leaves her worshiping the Lord God Almighty, knowing that she will be safely drawn into His presence as her heart is pure, her voice is strong, her song delightful to the Lord.

It seems like in so many thoughts of my Lord, I am left in awe at His goodness, His mercy to me.  His love is so overwhelming at times when He comes to me, His presence filling the room or even the car I am in.  I believe He is with me even as I sleep, surrounding my bed with His warm love and His protection over me.  I know He restores me as I rest for I can go to bed so tired and wake up so refreshed. I have not slept this well in years.  I am totally amazed at how good I sleep. Thank You, my Father for taking care of me.  I find myself over and over telling my Lord that I love Him so much.

The Lord.... Father, Son and Holy Spirit care for the bride.  They nouture her, protect her, guide her and give her utterance.  When the bride looks to the Lord alone for everything she needs, the Lord takes her to Himself and does all for her.  There is nothing that the Lord will not do for the one who loves Him so much and gives her life to Him.  The miracles that take place, the blessings that fall on her, the love that so surrounds her; all as a result of her devotion to Him.  The devotion that nothing can stop, no wavering as the days might seem difficult, the bride just keeps looking to the Lord to carry her through each day as it comes. Complete trust, unwavering faith, devotion make her the "apple" of the Lord's eye, if you will.  She is His love, His priority and He loves to spoil her and bless her with all the good things of His kingdom.

I am the bride.  I know my Lord is coming for me, Come Lord Jesus, come.  One of my favorite scriptures, one that makes my spirit quicken each time I read it, each time I speak it, "The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"  I say it now with an urgency in my voice, in my heart as I long to be with my Lord.  He is my love and I know I am loved by Him, deeply.  I rejoice in my future with my Bridegroom.  The wedding will be the talk of all eternity.

This 24th day of August, 2011, the Holy Spirit is preparing me, each day, readying me to be the bride of my Lord.  Are you ready, do you feel that quickening in your spirit when you think of the Bridegroom coming, coming to receive His bride.  Get ready, He will not wait, we have had adequate time, don't waste what is left of the time before He comes.  Prepare your heart, prepare the way for the Lord, prepare the way for the Bridegroom.  The Father is calling, the Holy Spirit is drawing us and the Son of God, the Bridegroom is coming to receive His bride, to encompass the bride to Themselves.

WHAT GOD MISSED

1 Samuel 20:18  "Then Jonathan said to David: "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty."

When we are not where we are meant to me, we are missed.  There is no one that will take the place where you, where I am to be.  I was in the car this morning just singing at the top of my lungs, loving on my Lord, praising Him, worshiping Him with all my heart and then abruptly I stopped as thoughts just overran my mind.  My Lord's presence was so heavy in the car, He was so near and I was beside myself with joy.  My thoughts just came to me, where was I all the time before the past year, what was I thinking, look what I had been missing, the beautiful presence of my Lord, this joy, this peace I have in Him.  As my thoughts were going on with this, the Holy Spirit threw a dart of truth deep into my heart.  He told me "What about what God missed?"  I have to say, Lord, that drew me to a standstill in my thoughts.  I had never given thought to what You missed while I was walking in the world, away from You.  Forgive me, Father, for my thoughts that had been only for myself, not thinking that You may have been missing that special relationship You had planned for us to have so many years ago.  And You have waited patiently for me, all this time.  Holidays, special days went by, You wishing to hear my song of love to You, worshiping You.  You just waited.  But You missed me, I never realized that until the Holy Spirit showed me that this morning. 

When Your children are not where You have planned for them to be, when You have to wait for them to come to You, to finally come into that love, that beautiful love and the relationship with You, while You are waiting You miss them as You missed me.  My Lord, You are so wonderful.  So Holy, my God, how I love You.  I am so happy that I am in You now, never to leave You again.  We made our way through it this morning and I won't go there again as I know You would not want me too.  But now, this past year has been so wonderful for me and now I know for You also.  Now I am right where You planned for me to be.  Worshiping You, devoting my life to loving You, to showing Your love to others, giving grace and mercy through You to those needing You so badly.  Now Your worshiper is right where she should be, tucked into Your heart, into Your love,  never to go from You, never.  I will never let go of You my Lord, never let go of the love You have for me, I will never go from Your presence as it is the only place I want to be.

I can be in Your presence in a room full of people, or in a room with only the two of us in it.  It is a state of heart, a spiritual mind set.  When my heart is set on You, when my eyes are only on You, and when my spirit is entuned with Yours, Your presence surrounds me like a gentle cloud, a sweet fragrant cloud that only those in You can see.  Oh, my Lord, Your love is everything to me.  Your kiss of blessings on me each day, I feel You in each sweet thing that happens to me.  When things happen that are meant to distress me, cause me anxiety, I quickly release those things to You and accept Your gentle embrace that shows Your pleasure in my faith, my trust in You.  I love to worship You, my Lord, I love to worship You.  You have given me so much to be thankful for.  There is nothing I will ever desire, no one that will ever draw me from You.  I don't know how to express my love more than this my God, my wonderful Lord.  There is nothing I know to do but love You, and to worship You.

I can never make up for what You missed, my Lord, but I can see that You will never be without my love, my devotion again.  This 23rd day of August, 2011, I am loving only You, I am loving being in Your presence, being Your child, being where You always wanted me to be; with You.

THE DEEP HUNGER

Romans 15:13  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

There came from within me a hunger that I didn't seem to be able to satisfy.  It was not for food, as I cannot think of anything I was really hungry for, and the things I ate did not satisfy it.  There seemed to be nothing I could do to quench a thirst that came from deep within me.  A search for something that could not be seen with the eyes, an endless journey that always ended back at the beginning.  Something lost but unable to be found. 

Then that day, almost a year ago, at home getting ready for work, worshiping the Lord as I got ready, just flowing with the music, worshiping, giving love to my Lord, seeking Him, needing His presence to fill that emptiness within, that hunger; then He was there, warmth flowing from my head to my toes, extending to my fingertips, every part of my body warm, a flowing through me that seemed fluid but not, that seemed to hold me in place but I felt like I was floating, a wholeness filling every part of my being, leaving no place untouched.  And then it was over, but not over.  For when the warmth left, there was a feeling I had not felt before.  I had experienced joy, I had peace at times, but now, now there was no hunger.  That deep hunger that had kept me searching for so long was no longer there.  That hunger, that thirst had been satisfied.

Close your eyes for a minute and think of the most wonderful experience you can imagine.  Feel the arms of the Lord around you, blowing warmth through out your entire body, filling every part of you, holding you motionless but feel yourself floating, flowing in His spirit.  Breathe in His sweetness, that beautiful fragrance of His love, and let His peace wash over you, let His joy fill you to the deepest part of you, deep into your soul.  Just wait, don't hurry past this, just let Him fill you to overflowing with Himself.  Fill them up, Lord, as You did me, fill them up till they are overflowing with Your joy, with Your peace.  Just let yourself be one with the Lord here, as you read this, one with Him, and then keep that feeling in yourself, don't let go of it.  You don't have to let go, the Lord will not ever leave you if you desire Him to stay.  He will stay as long as you worship Him, as long as you adore Him and reach for Him, seek Him alone.  Just worship Him now, thanking Him for His presence, for His touch on your life, for His love.  You know this is what you have hungered for, thirst for; nothing else but the Lord can satisfy this hunger, this thirst.  He alone knows what you need, you know He is what you need.  You need the sweet, ministering power, spiritual presence of the One that loves you so much.  The Lord, our Savior that gave His life that you might live, free to be one with the Father, free to receive His peace, His joy.

A hunger that can only be filled by the One who calls you His beloved; a thirst that can only be filled by the flow of the river of life, the river that flows from the throne of God, the river that will never dry up, that will replenish you daily with new mercies, new grace and an unconditional love that will lift you out of any despair, any form of depression.....but you must lean on the Lord, give all your cares and concerns to Him and let Him become everything you need; trust Him, give Him your heart, your life.  He longs to fill that hunger deep within you.

My Lord, my beautiful King, my Bridegroom, this 22nd day of August, 2011, I am filled to overflowing with the sweet waters from that unending river of life, I am filled with Your precious Holy Spirit, that never leaves me, never stops drawing me to that well, that place where I can be filled again and again.  The place where my deep hunger is satisfied, and where I thirst no more; He draws me into Your presence, my Lord, into Your presence where my every need is supplied.

WHILE I'M WAITING

Psalm 25:5  "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

I wait on You, my Lord.  Teach me to wait quietly Lord, not complaining of the wait, not worried that You will not hear me when I call, or answer any questions I have for You, but teach me to wait with faith.  Let me wait with joy in my heart, peace in my soul.

As I wait, dear Lord, let me not be useless to You; let me not run dry; let me serve You, let me work to please You, to worship You.  Let me show Your goodness to others, let me encourage them in You, showing Your love, Your mercy and grace; while I wait.  Give me direction and wisdom, Lord, in all things that concern what You will have me do for Your Kingdom, for You.  Let me have Your words that will supply faith and trust for others in You.

Your grace and mercy to me, Lord, sustain me while I wait.  And I know Father, that You will not make me wait beyond the time that my heart can stand.  You have prepared my heart for the journey, for the high places and for the desert places.  You, my Lord, have made the path smooth for me, but left a few places rough so I can realize at all times that I need You for my daily walk,.  It is not a journey where I only need you on Sundays, or only rough days, but I need you each day, no matter whether the road be through a garden of lushness or a desert of dryness.  When there is lushness You have taught me to savor each moment, not to rush through this time, but to store up the knowledge You share with me, the sweet fragrance of the living waters You pour over me.  You tell me to drink deeply of the waters, to drink past my fill, to drink to overflowing.  Then when there is a day where it seems like the enemy is hovering over me, threatening me with a dry, dark place, I can draw from that living water that is stored in my soul, and overcome anything the enemy is throwing at me.  The enemy can not overtake one who has been dwelling in the richness of the Lord and has stored up the precious Word, the very Living Water of life within themselves.

So while I wait, Father, teach me more.  I can never receive enough of Your teaching, of Your Word.  Let me drink to my fill each moment, each time I sit and read the beautiful passages of Your Word, those words that seem to leap from the pages into my spirit, giving me such satisfaction and peace.  My soul is satisfied in You, my King, my Lord.  So satisfied.  Living words that so often bring tears to my eyes, tears of joy as I read of Your love; as I read of Your provision; as I read of the day I am waiting for.  I wait for You, my Bridegroom, I wait for You.  As I wait, I know You will lead me daily into the path You have set for me, You will lead me into Your righteousness, Your grace.  You have placed me on Your mountain to wait, Lord; on Your mountain where Your presence fills every crevice like a deep fog, like smoke from the fire of Your love for me, the flames of forgiveness and mercy never failing.  Your presence assuring me that one day I will always be with You, visibly seeing Your precious face, withholding Your sweet, sweet face with my eyes. 

This 21st day of August, 2011, I am in Your presence, in Your arms in my spirit, in my heart where love abounds, where the spring of Living Water never stops its flow, I am in You, my Lord, while I wait for You.  "Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14.  I am waiting my Lord.

PROMISE OF GOD

2 Chronicles 7:17  (Message)  "As for you, if you life in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then I'll back your kingly rule over Israel; make it a sure thing on a sure foundation."

Solomon had completed building the Temple of God, the palace and all was finally completed. Through the generations of thought and design, it was complete, by David's son.  A place of beauty, a place of worship, dedicated to glorifying the Lord.  Complete.  The Lord was pleased with Solomon's work, with his dedication to the Lord and had told Solomon, that if the Lord's people would humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways, and worship and seek the Lord's presence, that He would always be there for them.  And He would always be there for Solomon, if he kept himself pure and devoted to the Lord.

Reading these scriptures, these beautiful promised words of the Lord, He touched my heart with them and made them so real to me, to my life.  The Lord has lifted me from a place of despair to a life that He has ordained for me, that He had planned for me, to bring me unto Himself, in a place where my consecrated body, my heart would be a temple for Him to dwell in.  A place that would hold only love and devotion for Him alone.  As He knows my heart; knows how I love Him, He also knows that worshiping Him is my desire, my desire to please Him, to devote myself to pleasing Him alone.  I seek only You, my God, none other will I look for.  I awake in the morning with words of praise for You and all through the days I worshp You; at night I look for You, I seek You so I may rest in Your Presence; rest in Your peace.

My thoughts tonight are on The Blood, the shed Blood of my Savior.  The Blood that has made all my life possible, made what I am in You, Lord, possible.  The Blood that has consecrated me, made me righteous in Him alone, so I may dwell where my Lord dwells, so He can come dwell within me.  No other way could I have been cleansed, sinful world that I am in,  partaking in this world; so sinful; but my Lord Jesus came, walked this earth, endured such ridicule and punishment, for a sinner called by the name Pat.  But His Blood, His Blood was shed, poured out for me, and washed me clean, gave me new life, a new person was born again in His spirit, and I was given a new name.  Yes, I am still called Pat, but the name takes on a new personage, as my name is now written in the Lambs' Book of Life.  The old person died, sin died, and a new person took up residence in that body, a new person with the Spirit of the Lord dwelling inside, making this person, the one called Pat, beautiful, lovely, pure of heart, totally in love with her Lord.  A vision of what was sometimes wants to appear but is quickly put down by the Holy Spirit's leading and prompting to block that emergence of that person, that person is no more.  It was never who I was, it was only what the enemy twisted and corrupted through circumstances I could not control.  I AM who my Lord God made me to be.  His child, His worshiper, His dwelling place.

My Lord made a promise to me.  If I turned from my sin, if I laid down those things of the world, those things that were not of Him, He would lift me to Him, He would see that I dwelled in His presence.  O my God, my God, how I feel Your presence now, this moment as You give me these words, as You surround me with Your love, I cannot help but weep for joy, for Your presence in this room.  So beautiful You are my Lord.  You promised me that You would sustain me in all You led me to do; You will never leave me or forsake me.  You told me when things came against me, just to rest in You, not to let it stress me or upset me, just to leave everything to You, You would take care of it all.  If it works out the way I wished or if it did not You would show me Your glory in it all.  You would lead me out victorious, as long as I stayed in You.  I will never leave You, my Lord God.  I love Your presence, I love the way You control things around me, for me.  I worship You, only You.

This 20th day of August, 2011, my Lord, I am resting in Your promises to me.  I am aglow with Your love, with the radiance of Your love on me.  I will worship You my Lord all my life.  O Pappa, how I love You.

ALL WILL SEE MY LORD HIGH AND LIFTED UP

Zechariah 14:9  "The Lord will be king over the whole earth.  On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name."

So often, I hear misuse of my Lord's Name.  Just the disrespect to my God, the dishonoring of my Lord; it makes me literally sick when I hear how my Lord is treated.  I just wonder, what are these people thinking, or not thinking.  They are talking about the Holy One, the beautiful Savior of the earth, of all mankind.  It hurts me deeply to hear this.  They speak as though they are smart and clever when they in reality are truly deceived.  The enemy has them so fooled,  I have even heard "Christians" say the Name of Jesus is such a unholy manner.  Do people not realize, especially Christians, that the Holy Spirit dwells close by and hears all these things.  Don't they realize that our Father hears everything and one day you will have those statements played back to you while you are standing so pious in front of our Lord thinking all is fine.  Don't they realize that to gain favor of the Lord God, you must worship, honor and adore Jesus, His own Son.  You cannot begin to draw near to God without adoration for Jesus, my beautiful Savior. 

Wow, don't know where all that came from as I did not think that this is the way this was to go.  One day, and I pray Father that it is soon, the Lord will come and reign over the whole earth and there will be no other god but our Lord.  Thre will be no other name lifted up and praised but the Name of Jesus.  He alone will fill the thoughts and hearts of all people that will be here with Him.   There will be no one on the earth when our Lord reigns except those that desire to love Him, and worship Him.  Peace will fill every mountain and valley on the earth, all people will dwell in this peace and will know Who is responsible for it.  Can you just think what it will be like, to walk in pure love and fellowship with those living on this earth.  To hear everyone speak our Lord's Name is such reverence, with such love, no curses falling on our ears, crushing our spirits when we think of our Lord hearing such.  I think that is the thing that hurts more than my having to hear these things, is that my Lord hears them.  I cannot bear the thought of Him being hurt; don't you think He was hurt enough when he was on earth, when he went to the cross, not just for me and you, who love Him so, but for all mankind.  He did not go to the cross just for those loving Him, but for all, so all could have the opportunity to repent of their sins and be born again in His spirit, through His shed blood. Oh, my Lord, You are my everything.  I love You so much.  I can never thank You enough for loving me as You do and giving so much to redeem me.  You are my Beloved Savior, my beautiful Friend, my Bridegroom, whom I am waiting to return for me.

I saw in the clouds this afternoon coming home, a throne rising up, rising up higher and higher.  It was thrilling seeing this appear in front of me, and knowing what You were showing me, Lord, You were showing me just a glimpse of what it would be like when You returned to reign.  Your throne rising up above everyone, no one missing the rise of the Lord God, the King of Kings, the Beginning and the End, coming to reign on earth, Your earth, my Lord.  My sweet Lord, You will return to take Your place, Your rightful place and rule the earth, rule Your chosen people, rule us with justice and love, peace and understanding.

You are my Lord.  I will lift up the Name of Jesus, the Name of my Redeemer, My Savior, each day, each moment.  You are the very breath that I take, the essence of life to me, and I give You all my love, my Lord, all my love.  This 19th day of August, 2011, I am rejoicing, knowing that one day, one day soon, I will see my Lord high and lifted up; I will see You, Lord, adored by all, honored and glorified by all.  I love You, my Lord.

HE KNOWS MY NAME, MY VOICE, MY HEART

Exodus 33:17  "And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

The Lord knows me.  I have no doubt that when I worship, when I sing praises to Him, He knows exactly which voice is mine, and what my name is.  See, I don't just use my voice to ask my Father for stuff.  Yeah, that is what a lot of it is, stuff.  I can remember my prayers of years ago, "give me, I need, please do this for me" and what did my beautiful Lord get in return?  Well, I won't go there as it is forgiven and put far from me, far from my Lord, but let me just say, it was nothing like what He should have been given; what He is now given daily, morning, noon and night.  All my worship, all my praise, all my love.

I can also remember when my heart did not make my Lord very happy, I am sure it grieved Him, caused Him to have to let me walk in places He would have preferred me not to go, but it was for my good, to bring me to true repentance, to draw me back to His arms, where I belonged.  I will never go away from my Lord again.  He means more than this world to me, it will just not happen; I am never leaving my first love, my Lord, my God.  I cannot think of life without my Lord without weeping. 

One Sunday months back in church as we were worshiping the Lord, I looked out and saw the people just half way worshiping, some not at all and when we stopped singing, I told them (I was miked) that the Lord was waiting to hear their voices, hear them worship Him with the same voices He heard so often asking for help, for healing, for protection, for peace.  I told them the Lord knew what my voice sounded like, I worshiped Him all the time, but He was wanting so to hear their voices raised in worship to Him.  Did this connect with your hearts?  Does the Lord, does our Father hear your voices raised in worship, in praise to him, or does He just hear your voices when you need Him, when you need Him to get you out of a situation, or need healing.  Is that the only time He hears your voice.

What does the Lord see when He looks into your heart?  Does He see a heart with love, total adoration for Him; or does He see a heart that has no room for Him, that is full of self interest, full of fear, full of unforgiveness for those in your life?  It is time, don't you think to clean that heart up; get rid of all those things that will only grieve the Father, grieve you also.  Our beautiful Lord is waiting for this call from you, a call to come into your heart, totally, without reservation; give to Him all of you.  Ask Him for forgiveness, open your heart for Him to inspect, sweep out all those things that don't belong there and redeem you to Him.  Give Him your heart, give our Lord a beautiful, loving, dwelling place for Him to come and be with you.  He's waiting to pour His peace, His joy, His love into you, to hold you close to His heart.

I love You so much my Lord.  I worship You, yes, Father, You know how much I love You.  I can feel You smiling down on me, I know You are pleased with me.  I love Your presence my Lord.  I love how I feel Your arms around me, my heart almost stopping at the touch You give me.  I know Your voice, my God.  This 18th day of August, 2011, I know Your voice, I know Your heart; and I know You know my name, my voice, and my heart as You dwell with me and I with You.

FROM THE LION'S DEN

Daniel 6:26  "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.  For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end."

As I was reading about Daniel in the lions den, the Lord showed me that Daniels plight was not so unlike our own.  There will always be people that see the Lord's children prosper under the blessings of God, and rather than yield their life to the Lord, will attempt to come up with ways to hurt God's children or undermind the authority of the Lord over them.  Nothing has actually changed, except that the lion's den is the trials and temptations thrown at us by the enemy.  Whatever can be done to hurt your witness, to turn you from the way that the Lord has set for you will be attempted by satan.  This is what happened to Daniel, the enemy used the administrators and satraps to try and destroy the favor that Daniel had been given by the Lord through the king.

Our defense, as the Lord has told us in His Word, is from Him alone.  We do not have to try and think of what to say, what to do; when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will have the right words rise up from within our spirits to speak out in our defense, these words will come straight from our Lord.  Our goal should be to stay focused on the Lord, to keep our hearts intuned with His and to keep our eyes on Him alone.  Do not look to one side or the other, let not the words coming at you frighten you or bring you down.  If you are innocent, doing nothing wrong in the eyes of our God, He will not let you down.  He will see that no matter what is said, what is done, you will be justified in His sight and the sight of man.  Our Lord truly means it when He says "Fear Not, for I am with you".

How wonderful You are, my Lord.  You have never failed me, You would never walk away from me.  I know You have my best interests in mind for me, You know what is going to strengthen me, You know what I need to continue doing the work You have placed before me.  I trust in You alone to lead me, to guide me, to cover me.  Your love, my Lord, Your love gives me such joy and peace.  Never have I felt so protected, so cared for as I do now.  I have been so blessed by You for so long, but since I followed Your path for me, I feel I am in the hollow of Your side, tucked into You so nothing can harm me, hurt me.  You have me so close, I feel You my Lord.  I feel Your hand on me, I feel Your presence, O Lord, how I love Your presence; as I breathe in the wonderful fragrance of Your love, of You.  I have joy that is life filling.  My life is so full, so blessed, just with You, Lord, I desire nothing else, but You, to give You pleasure, to give You worship and love.

This 17th day of August, 2011, I am loving You, my King, my Lord of Lords.  You, I seek You from morning till night again and again.  Never will I ever let go of You, my Lord, never will I let go, knowing that You will never release me to be harmed, to be destroyed by the enemy.  There may be lion's dens in my future, but I know You will be there with me.  You will always be with me.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Lamentations 3:22-23  "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

As I was driving home this evening from work, I was thinking how different today was from yesterday.  I had the most horrible day yesterday; it seemed like nothing I did was right, I stayed bound tightly up and was almost overcome by stress.  It just was not like me to have such a day.  I could not even think about what I was doing I was so overwhelmed.  But today, today was such a good day.  Work was great, everything went smoothly, things got accomplished and I had such a peace all day. 

I know yesterday, the new boss took over and was asking for things, needing things from us, and why it struck me so hard, I had no idea until this evening.  As I was coming home and thanking the Lord for my wonderful day and commenting to Him how different it was, how wonderful compared to yesterday, He began to tell me why that was.  My Lord God showed me yesterday, brought so much of it back to mind, and yes, there I was trying to accomplish everything in my own strength.  I was tired and I just tried to do it all without consulting Him.  I worshiped Him all day, but failed to include Him in my thoughts when things began to overwhelm me.  I realize now that when things began to overload me, I should have instantly gone to Him and asked for His help, for His intervention, for His guidance.  Instead I mowed ahead trying to do it in my own power, my own strength, of which I found I had very little. 

So this afternoon, driving home, having yesterday replayed for me, I began to worship and thank my Lord for this revelation, for bringing it to me, showing me my mistakes, what I did wrong. I believe it is to our own good that the Lord takes us back to show us where we went wrong, what we should have done to conquer our fears, our dilemmas, and how to overcome those things.  I immediately asked forgiveness of my Lord, and began again to thank Him for this day.  He showed me what I did differently today.  He said I never once let anything stress me today, as when things came up, I immediately asked for His help.  When things went nicely, I immediately thanked Him.  And He reminded me of when I woke up this morning that the first thing I did after telling Him how much I loved Him, how much He meant to me, was to ask Him to be with me today, never leaving my side, just to let me remain in His presence all day.  So He said, because you invited me, I stayed.  I know each day I tell  my God how much I love Him and how much He means to me, but I don't know that each morning I ask for His presence all day.  I do at times during the day, but this morning it was "stay with me Lord, stay".  You can be certain I will make that statement clear and bold each day from now own.  I always want my Lord God to be with me, and sometimes I think we fail to ask Him to come, we just assume He will without invitation.  He will, knowing our hearts, but He does like to be invited.  He likes to have us specially ask Him to stay with us. 

I never want You to leave me my Lord.  I wish to remain in Your presence day and night.  I cannot do this without You, Lord.  I need You each moment, more and more.  I was telling the Lord how much I loved Him, and He was telling me how much He loved me.  I told Him I did not ever think I could love as much as He did, even though each day I love Him more and more, deeper and deeper.  But I don't think mortals have the capacity to love so much like our Lord loves us.  His love is overpowering, never ending.  I can only pray to love as much as He gives me the ability to do so.  I can only love in Him, and through Him.   I only know that without Him, I would be nothing but an empty shell; I have to have my Lord in my life.  He is my life.

I love You so much,, my Lord.  You are everything to me.  I will spend all my days in worship to only You, seeking ways to please You with my songs of love, with my life.  I give my life to worshiping and honoring You, my Lord.  This 16th day of August, 2011, I am seeking to go deeper and deeper in You, to totally be one with You, my Beloved Lord.

YOUR WAY ALONE

Acts 5:29  "Peter and the other apostles replied: We must obey God rather than man!"

From birth we are, most of us anyway, taught to obey man.  Obey your parents (a good thiing), obey your teachers, the policeman, the pastor.....and all of these are good things.  But it does establish a mind set, where you go through life knowing you must obey man.  This must be done in order, however.  You should only obey man if it does not cause disobedience to God.  The way the world rules things, especially now in this day, does not make for Godly obedience.  The new rules of man more often conflict with that of what the Lord would have you do.  Right now has become in most cases, wrong; and wrong has become right.  Drink a cup of coffee at a fast food place and spill it on yourself, burning yourself, and sue them and win....I would have loved to see the Lord's face with that one.  I can imagine Him shaking His head and wondering just what was anyone thinking, or better yet, not thinking.  This is just a small case of misjustice in my mind.  Where has common sense gone; where has brotherly love gone; and when did constantly try to get things that belong to someone else, just because you can, begin.  Coffee is hot, if you spill it, you will get burned.  Common sense.  Watch where you are walking.  Common sense.  But here I am again, getting off track.

When we begin to obey man to the point of letting them decide wrong over right for us, or make decisions for us without our consulting our God, then we are getting ourselves in a real bind.  Our decision making should come at the foot of the cross, at the feet of our Lord, prayerfully asking the Father for clear thinking, for wisdom and knowledge in the situation and then wait for an answer.  Do we just ask in prayer and run ahead with what we were thinking of doing in the first place without waiting for an answer.  I can remember in the past when I did exactly that.  How many heartaches I could have saved myself if I would have inquired of my God, and waited for His answer.  No matter how long it takes for His answer, you will find it is always in the right timing that will benefit us, God's timing is perfect.  Now I wait, I only want God's answers to lead me, to guide me in my life.  I want to make sure I stay in His will, not my own, not man's will, but God's alone.

When I am in God's will for my life, when I know that my direction is coming from Him alone, then there is joy in my heart, I have that beautiful peace that only comes from knowing that God is in control of my life and I have nothing to worry about.  As long as my Lord is doing the directing and I do the following, there is rest at the end of each day, a peaceful rest and there is more joy awaiting me when I awaken.

In the Bible we read of so many that could not, would not wait for God's direction, for His way, and then spent a good portion of their lives in disarray, in misery, crying out to God for deliverance.  Things have not changed much, when we rush ahead and do things our way, we fall into the same pattern.  We cry out to our Lord for forgiveness and help.  Thank You, Lord God, for Your mercy, Your compassion for Your children, that regardless of what we did, of the fact that we did not wait for Your Word, Your way, You still pulled us up and delivered us from ourselves, so many times. 

Your love, my Lord, is so merciful, so kind, so unending.  I see over and over how You have lifted me to  Yourself, held me close, and forgave my impatience, my stubbornness, just giving me more love than I knew was possible, when I was so undeserving.  You dusted me off, restored my robe of righteousness, and told me how You loved me, told me You were placing me back on the path that You set for me, and gave me instructions once again on following You way alone.  I know when I do this, and it seems like I am not hearing from You as clearly as I was.....I think it is kind of like a "time-out".  You just set me just far enough away so I don't feel Your presence as heavy on me, but still close enough where Your hand can reach out and touch me so I know You are there.  You, my Lord God, as so good to me, Your kindness and grace overwhelm me at times, I know I cannot live without my Lord, my Father.

This 15th day of August, 2011, my Lord, I worship You, I truly give You all my heart, all my love.  I cannot imagine what my life would be if  I was going my own way.....I know that the only way for me, for the rest of my life, is Your Way Alone.

THE THORN IS FOR OUR GOOD

2 Corinthians 12:7  "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me."

This thorn has been a discussion between myself and a good friend on a few occasions lately and as I was reading my Bible before church this morning, the Lord directed me to this verse and began to show me some things. 

As we continue in the Lords work, we all have times that the enemy will come upon us and set us up by telling us how wonderful we ministered, how beautiful we sang, what great work we did, and on and on.  When in fact, none of it is at all possible without the Lord, it is for His glory we do what He leads us to do, not for our own glory.  So the Lord showed me, that there will always be something that will echo in our mind, a little part of our past that has been forgiven, forgotten by Him, but left in the recesses of our memory for our good.  It will be that little thing that satan will try to rob our joy with, but instead it will serve as a reminder of how the Lord picked us up from that pit we were in, cleansed us of all unrighteousness and placed us where we are now.  He showed me that was my thorn.  As many times as I have asked for the Lord to take it from my mind, it remains there and now I can see clearly why.  To remind me of my imperfection, that there is none perfect but my Lord and Savior, Jesus.  The only way that I am made righteous is in Him, made whole is through Jesus and given access to the Father is through Jesus. But, His grace is sufficient, so sufficient for me.  It is by His grace that the thorn is there to serve as a reminder, nothing more.  It is not to harm me, but to help me.

The thorn.....much as I dislike it, I glory in the fact that the Lord loves me so much, He will leave me with that so I can remain thankful, humble and not boast in my situation.  My only boast can and will ever be in Who He is, in His love for me, His child, in the fact that He is indeed my Father; but it is not truly boasting for all God's children can proclaim that.

I do want to tell you about the services I was in today.  Both services so annointed, so heavy with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  This morning was only a touch of what tonights service became.  The Spirit of the Lord so heavy in the church, at the altar, you could hardly stand up, hardly walk; some became literally drunk in the spirit.  What an annointing was placed on the pastor tonight, healings took place, Words from the Lord delivered, my wonderful Father had a Word for me.  I am so blessed.  My life just keeps going higher in Him, as I continue to trust Him, give Him my all, He is pouring out His Spirit on me.  I cannot tell you how blessed I am, how very blessed. 

My Lord, I can handle the thorn in my flesh, only because I know You are with me, each step, each day, never leaving me, always loving me; loving that I will remain humble before You.  This 14th day of August, 2011, I am loving You, my Lord; surrendering to You, all my love, all my worship.

CHILDREN OF GOD

1 John 3:1  "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."

Beloved Father, how is it that there is still so much prejudice in our world; so much mistrust, dislike, pure hate for others.  I know the answer to this question, but I just wish it could be different.  I have always had a problem with the mistreatment of others just because they were different.  And yet, I can remember a few times when I, also, went along with the crowd.  So ashamed of that behavior, yes, I know it was not often, and I was young, but it is still shameful.  Hurt me inside, disturbed me so much, but did not have the courage to stand up and say it was wrong.  The enemy sure has a foothold on this earth in the area of prejudice, of course it works for him, as it keeps Your children divided.

All this brought to mind so strongly as I saw the movie "The Help" this evening.  I, once again, was very disturbed at the treatment of some of Your children by others who claimed to be Your children.  This was a very true depiction of those days, and I do believe a lot of it still exists in forms today.  Mistreat some today, but go to church tomorrow and want to do good things for the very ones they mistreated.  Such a waste of their time, as it will not be blessed by You, my Lord.  I know You do not bless what is not done with a clear heart, a heart with love.

What a world this could be dearest Father, if all would just love as Jesus loves us, as You love us.  If we could all put the other person before ourselves, give of ourselves, serve each other, "wash the feet" of our brothers and sisters as our Lord showed us to do, humbling ourselves before them, honoring You, my God, in these acts of giving, loving.

 I have thought myself as the least prejudice person I know, Father, but I believe I do have some prejudice.  I have prejudice against those who use others to better themselves, step over people to raise themselves higher, ridicule others to attempt to make themselves seem better or more important.  Yes, I am prejudice against this type of person.  I don't have them, I actually feel sorry for them as I know how it turns You from them, as this is open sin, it profits them nothing.

The movie saddened me Father as it brought back to memory all those days, when I was young, when so much injustice went on simply because people wanted to live freely, to live without fear and mistreatment.  But what gave me joy was seeing how, although mistreated, these ladies loved those little children to whom they cared for.  And these little children loved them dearly.  The ladies were God fearing ladies, who loved You and gave that love to the children.  Encouraged them. 

I love You, my Lord.  You are my Glory, You are my Joy, my Peace,, my Love.  I read today in one of my devotions, Father, that You just want me to throw myself into Your arms and embrace the life that You have given me, to give You all the cares of my heart, to just live each day in You, yielding all to You, and letting You take care of me.  For me to rest in You.  I love You so much, Father.

Father, I ask tonight that You give all those who call themselves by the Name of Your Beloved Son, that call themselves Christians, I ask that You give them the feelings of Your heart, that they see how You would have them love each other, care for each other, without prejudice, without guile.  Lord, I ask You to bless each one of Your children with Your love, grace and mercy tonight.  To rise them up in the morning and draw them to one of Your houses of worship, to worship corporately with each other, lifting up the Name of Jesus, and glorifying You.  I ask that they embrace the company of Your children and give to others as servants, loving each other through You.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

This 13th day of August, my Father, I thank You for showing me Your heart.  Let me always be sensitive to Your feelings Lord, to love, to serve all God's children.

GODLY CONTENTMENT

1 Timothy 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

This evening as I was driving home, I was thinking about angels, God's heavenly creatures when satan popped into my mind.  Not him literally but thoughts of hin. Here he was, created to glorify God, to serve our Lord and worship Him.  I imagine satan was content for a while, he probably had a wonderful voice, penetrating vocals that would make the most beloved tenors envious.  How long, I wondered, did he love our Lord and worship him before he became discontented with the plan God had for him.  I can see him going around to his friends, to those who thought highly of him as one of God's favorites.  Have you wondered what the angels must have thought, how torn they became as satan tried to turn them away from our Lord, away from the God the angels so loved and worshiped.  I would like to think most turned away from satan and refused to listen to him, but satan got a lot to listen to him.

Haven't you seen this happen in churches everywhere.  And most of the time it is those that are close to the pastor that begin to get dissatisfied, thinking they could do things better and if only the pastor would listen to them, well, everything would be better.  But if you are a true pastor, a real shepherd, the listening you are doing is to the Lord, to the Holy Spirit.  Real Christians, those who know the Lord, will know if their pastor is intuned with the Lord, their spirits will connect.  Now I am not saying pastors never miss what the Lord is saying, nor do I believe they are perfect; they are human, just like you and I and we sometimes make mistakes also.  Thank you Father, for your mercy, for your grace.  But still, these pastors are doing what they feel the Lord leads them to do, for the good of all the people that God has entrusted to them.  But words of discontentment, a little note of "holy" concern here, a few jabs of "do you think this is the best way for "our" congregation to go at this time....enough of this and you begin to make some rumbles throughout the church body.  I have seen a lot of church splits caused over pride and false ownership of the "church".  The church is the Lords.  The building, well it is only a building if the Lord is not there, it might as well be a warehouse, empty without the Spirit of our Lord there.  The sad thing is that after all the strife is over, usually the one that started everything over their jealously and thinking they could do it better; well, they are still not happy, because now their congregation is in shambles and there is no church left.

I can imagine after being thrown out of Heaven, satan and those who chose to follow him, have had second thoughts.  Perhaps not satan, but I can imagine some of his followers have wondered a few times if they had made the biggest mistake ever.  Can you imagine getting your head banged up constantly from those of us who love our Lord and do not let satan and company disrupt our worship.  Of course, they try and may get an edge once and a while but when we recognize the disquise they are wearing and quickly rebuke it, their heads are banged once again.  Yes, I can see some of them hating what they did.  I can also see satan as a tyrant.  As our Lord desires us to do His will, He does not force us to, He gives us free will.  Not so with satan I don't believe.  I imagine it is his way only.

I thank You, my Father, that I am free to chose and that through Your great love for me, through the wooing of the Holy Spirit, I was drawn back to You; I chose You my God.  I love You so much Lord, and I thank You that I have great contentment in You.  I am so content with the life You have given me, with the plans You are unveiling for my life, more each day.  I thank You, Lord, that I have the knowledge of Your mercy, Your grace, Your love.  Thank You, my God, for Your Holy Presence, I never tire of Your presence my Lord.  I love being in Your presence, receiving Your sweet peace, Your great joy.

This 12th day of August, 2011, I am rejoicing in my God.  My gain are the treasures given to me by my Lord, His Holy Spirit, my beautiful loving Bridegroom, and the very presence of the Lord Himself, to give me His love and Godly contentment.

SURRENDERING IN WORSHP

2 Samuel 6:14-15  "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets."

King David completely gave all he had to the worship of the Lord.  He did not care who saw him, who ridiculed him for giving all he had, completely abandoning himself, immersing himself in total worship to God, his awesome God. 

I am so happy worshiping my Lord.  It is to me such a joy to completely give myself to worshiping Him, not worrrying what someone might say, what they would think.  This was not always the case, as I use to be concerned of what man thought of me, what they might say about me.  This was a couple of years ago, I believe it was due a lot to my not understanding what my worship, the worship of His children, means to the Lord, to our God.  I was not taught growing up that I was born to worship.  I was taught a lot of things about the scripture, about the Bible, but the Word never was alive to me, never spoke to me as it does now.  I would sing songs, but you could not call what I did worship, some might have thought it was, but I know different now.

When you truly give yourself over, forgetting about who you are, what you are, except that you are the Father's beloved child; oh, how can you not worship Him just thinking of that one thing, His beloved child....my heart just wants to beat out of my chest thinking of His loving me as such.  But when you just love the Lord so much, when you want to please Him with all of your love and praise, then when you lift your head towards heaven and let the soulish, heart stirring words of adoration and worship rise from your lips....I can feel His smiling in my spirit when I do this.  I can feel His heart, the sweetness of His heart returning that love back to me in His manner, which is pouring out of Himself, wanting to bless me, bless any child of His giving worship and love as this, my Lord is so happy when He hears this type of worship.  What grace is given, what love poured out.  My God so wants His children to love Him, to seek Him and worship Him.  He loves us so much.  I only want to live my life in such a way that gives Him pleasure, that pleases Him, that lets Him know how very much I love Him, that He is my everything, my All in All.

Can you just see David, stripped down of all his finery, just dressed as the others, dancing with complete abandonment before the Lord, not caring what anyone thought, just celebrating the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant was carried into Jerusalem, where it rightfully belonged, David, so happy that the Ark was back, knowing how it pleased the Lord.  He just danced and danced.  Even ridicule by his wife did not shake his enjoyment in giving to the Lord his worship.  How many times do we begin to worship and something happen to distract us, or to make us think we look foolish or that someone might say something about us, and we draw back from that complete giving all.  Only give some, just a little and no one will notice much.  Yes, I can say this to you, as I told you before at one time this was me.  I know what it is like.  I wish I could change that now, but I cannot, I can just go from where the Lord has brought me and give all to Him with joy, with excitement, with all my heart, just to worship Him, just because I love Him so much. 

Did you know that the Jewish people would not call God by His name, Yahweh, because it was the Lord's name, his special name.  They felt that it was to personal to call the Lord, Almighty God, by His personal name as He was so holy, so very holy.  So they called Him Adonai instead, they did not want to disrespect the Lord.  And me, I call Him Pappa. What a name for the Great I Am, the God of all gods, my Father.  But the difference here is, when Jesus paid the price for our sins at Calvary, the veil was rent into and Jesus gave us, made the way for us to have complete access to the Father, made righteous in Him, by His shed blood.  And our God, finally had access to His children, could look upon us through the righteousness of Jesus, His Beloved Son, and have a relationship, a closeness with us.  Now I can go to my Father, my Pappa, and talk to Him, sit in His presense and just sit in that glorious atmosphere that flows everywhere the Lord is.  Just to breath in His glory, do you do this?  Just sit quietly with your heart so full of love, your spirit so intuned to His heart, and just breath in His presence.  I cannot do anything but weep from the sure joy of Him, of His love.

I will sing, I will dance, I will worship with my whole being before my Lord.  I will give one hundred percent of myself to worshiping my God, my Lord.  Nothing held back, everything given.  This 11th day of August, 2011, I surrender my entire being to worshiping my Lord.  To giving Him all my love, all my worship, as He is my God, He is my Father, my Pappa.

BY HIS SPIRIT

1 Corinthians 2:10  "but God has revealed it to us by His spirit."

The Lord reminded me of a silly joke that went around years ago about a lady that went to have her hair done but was wearing earphones and insisted they not take them out of her ears, she said it was a matter of life or death.  Well, she fell asleep under the dryer and they were concerned she could be harmed from the heat on the earphones so they removed them. Later seeing she was not breathing, they picked up the earphones and listened; they heard "breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out".  Such a silly thing I thought for the Lord to bring to mind, but then He spoke to me and said, "My Spirit is a life or death matter to My children".  And then I understood why He reminded me of the joke.  To get the point.

Our lives depend on the indwelling of the Spirit of our Lord, the Holy Spirit is more than just that voice inside you that warns you of dangers, tells you when you have need of repentance. The Holy Spirit is our life link to the Lord.  He is the direct connection to the throne room of God. We cannot have a relationship with the Lord without the Holy Spirit.  If you say you are saved but are not filled with the Holy Spirit, then you have no life in the Lord.  There is no life, no true life inside you.  What you have is head salvation.  Only thoughts and knowledge of what the Word of God says.  You do not have the heart knowledge of our Lord God.  You know of God, you do not know HIM.  Knowledge of our Savior, relationship with our God comes from the Holy Spirit, through Him. 

Now I am no theologian, I cannot compete with those that can quote scripture and verse; I have lost that ability of memorizing that I once had; I have asked my Father to return that to me.  For so many years, things that happened to me were so traumatic that I forced myself to forget them; what actually happened is that those things remained and I lost memory qualities for things I would like to remember.  But my God is good and is restoring to me the things He wants me to know.  But, what I am trying to say, is that even though I do not have the knowledge some have, I have what is important, what is life to me.  I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me, I have His voice in my spirit at all times as He leads and guides me, as He gives me utterance to sing unto my Lord, to praise Him above all things, and to pray the prayer of a child seeking her Father.  My prayers are not great oral scripts, just simple words expressed to my Lord as if He and I were sitting together and talking.  I talk to the Lord all day long, I believe that is to me what they mean by continually in prayer all day long.  I go from talking/praying to my Father to worshiping Him.  I have learned to do this even when I am working with people in front of me.  It is the Holy Spirit that leads me to do this, that guides me in the ways of my Father, teaching me how to please Him, how to worship Him.

The Lord speaks to me through His spirit.  I cannot say I have, as some people have, heard the audible voice of my Lord.  I would love to hear His voice, loud, resounding through the air, but I don't think I have.  I have heard Him though so many times through the Holy Spirit, His own precious Spirit that dwells in me, in this vessel that I am, the cleansed vessel, daily washed by the blood of the Lamb, restored nightly with love and new mercies by my precious Lord; keeping me righteous and making me fit to be the house of the Lord, for His spirit to dwell in me.  God's life giving Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit, I would have no life.  I don't mean I would be dead, but spiritually I would be; there is no spiritual life without the Holy Spirit.  I need to breath in, breath out, breath in the freshness of the Holy Spirit constantly.  I cannot do anything on my own, nor do I want to.  I have to have the Holy Spirit guiding me, lifting me from all concerns, worries by reminding me of Whose child I am.  I am not abandoned, I am not forsaken, never.  I am loved, adored, treasured by my Father.  My Father loves me passionately and the Holy Spirit never lets me forget this, never lets me forget that I can do all things in my Lord who strengthens me, who gives me life.

By His Spirit, I live.  I live freely, without bands of bondage to weigh me down, without fear, without regret, without sin.  If I fail, the Holy Spirit quickly draws me to repentance which brings forgiveness and restoration, new life.  I love You, Holy Spirit, You are life to me.  This 10th day of August, 2011, I am blessed; I am alive spiritually, having been given life, my very breath by His Spirit.

HIS PRESENCE

Hebrews 12:28  "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and joy, for our "God is a consuming fire"."

This has been quite a day.  I was not going to talk about worship tonight, I was going to talk about my Father, His being a consuming fire.  And maybe it all connects here.  I have been thinking about worship most of the day.  Yes, I know, you think I do that anyway, and I do, but today it has truly been on my heart; is my worship truly reaching God?  You can see the enemy has been sitting on my shoulder playing in my mind again.  As I was driving around at noon, seeing the area where I worked, I was thinking about worship, was I good enough to come before the Lord, my God, Himself, direct just me to Him, was I worthy enough, was I clean enough.  It struck me so deeply I began to weep as I was driving; thinking that perhaps I had been wrong all this time, perhaps I did not touch my Father's heart like I had believed, and so I cried.  My soul just wept and the tears ran down my cheeks.  How could I be wrong, I know the touch of my Father, and I know His presence.  It is different from that of my precious Savior, Jesus; different from that of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit comes to me from inside flowing out; do you understand that, what I mean by inside to out.  He dwells deep inside of me and I can tell when He joins me outside of myself, but mostly I feel Him inside, speaking to me in the Spiritual realm.  Jesus, my sweet, beautiful Savior, I can always tell when He is near because I smell the fragrance of His love before I feel His presence.  That beautiful fragrance flows from around Him, and I always know He is near, then I feel His presence.  But my Father, my God, my God when He comes, when His presence descends upon me, I feel my insides quake and quiver, my heart begins to pound inside me like it will explode, and I have chills all over me.  My breath becomes almost distant from me, my chest heavy with anticipation of His touch on my shoulder.  Yes, there is a difference in the presence.  So I know I cannot have been wrong knowing that when I worship my Father, my God, it is direct from me to Him.  So here I was, in a state of wonder, weeping.

And then, there He was.  He is never far from me, from any of us that love our God so completely, He is always close.  Into my spirit He put His words, "No, my child, you are not wrong.  You worship me, just like I taught you, just the way that pleases me, with your whole heart, your whole being. You are not wrong about knowing that your worship reaches me." 

We must worship our God in a way that is acceptable to Him; pure, truthful, wanting nothing but to please Him, just to worship Him for who He is, for the joy it will give Him, for the pleasure He will receive knowing we love Him so much and desire to give our all to Him.  We must come before Him cleansed from all unrighteousness, all sin.  Asking forgiveness for anything we have done that did not line up to His Word, asking His forgiveness, in Jesus, His Beloved Son's Name.  Then let our worship go up out of our spirits to His Spirit, let our songs of love and adoration flow from our souls, our lips to His throne room, to His waiting ears, waiting to hear those voices He so longs to hear.  He waits, you know, for the voices of those He has redeemed from so down under, that He knows have left that former life, shed that old man, and accepted the redemption He so longs to give all; He knows their worship is so special to us as we long to touch His heart with our love, He has done so much for us, given us eternal life, given us His love.  So He waits each day for those voices, perhaps above all the others that have never left the pathway He set for us all; but for those of us whose path took us so far away, and now like the prodigal we have returned, hearts overflowing with thanksgiving and love for the Father that took us back; placed that robe of righteousness upon us, that ring on our finger binding us to Him forever; and now our song of worship and adoration fills  the heavens twenty-four/seven, endlessly glorifying our God for His goodness, His love.

My God, consume me with Your fire of love, Your fire that will burn Your Word deep within my soul, pour out that fire from Heaven, from Your throne, all around me, marking me with those words, "This is My child, My worshiper".  I only want to be known as that child, Your worshiper.  Pour out Your presence on me continually, my Father, as I never want to be away from You.

This 9th day of August, 2011, how can I leave this without professing my love once more, my Father.  I love my Savior, Jesus, with my heart and soul.  He is my Bridegroom, and I am so ready for Him to come for me; my beautiful Holy Spirit, without Him, I cannot abide in this world, for He guides me, teaches me, corrects me; and He and my Lord Jesus give me the open door, the access through Them, to You, my Father, my God, to be one with You.